Robert “Rabbie” Burns (in his Author’s Earnest Cry, 1786) provides us the first use of anything resembling the phrase clean as a whistle in writing: “Her mutchkin stowp as toom’s a whissle”… this meant “Her pint bucket is as empty as a whistle”. …we conjecture that Rabbie was familiar with this instrument, the implication being that if a whistle is not clear of obstruction inside, then it will not play properly.
@RiotDemon so then shouldn’t the phrase be ‘clear as a whistle’?
@carl669 @RiotDemon no you need to whistle when you are clear…
@Kidsandliz @RiotDemon can’t I just fire a flare gun when I’m clear like a normal person?
Ever try to whistle with food in your mouth? Clean, as in empty, makes sense.
Kinda like “Clear as a bell”.
They are referring to the sound as clean and clear…
@daveinwarsh but then why do people say ‘clean as a whistle’ in the context of dirty vs clean?
@llangley
@carl669
Of course spit is clean… tell me you haven’t ever used it to clean off something from your kid’s face!
I always just assumed it came from steam powered locomotives.
But now that you made me look it up, there are a variety of origins possible…
If your whistle is all gunked-up, it ain’t gonna work very well.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/34422/clean-as-a-whistle-why-is-a-whistle-considered-appropriate-for-describing-cl
If the glove does not fit, you must acquit.